British midwives are outraged this week after learning that one of their top representatives is openly supporting a measure to allow abortions for any reason up until birth, the UK Metro reports.
Cathy Warwick is the chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives; she also is the chair of the board for the pro-abortion British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which is calling for the legalization of abortion for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy, according to the report.
Currently, in England, abortion is legal up until 24 weeks; late-term abortions are legal only in rare circumstances when the mother’s life is in danger or the unborn child has a severe disability. The measure being proposed by Warwick and the BPAS would make British law similar to the U.S. after Roe v. Wade, allowing abortions for any reason on viable, late-term babies.
Many of the midwives who Warwick represents, as well as a number of politicians, expressed outrage and pointed out how her two roles conflict when it comes to protecting babies. The Daily Mail reports a petition calling for Warwick to resign already has signatures from tens of thousands of midwives and citizens.
Midwives represented by the RCM said the group’s leaders adopted Warwick’s pro-abortion policy without consulting members, according to the news reports. A RCM spokesperson confirmed that Warwick did not consult members about the radical abortion stance.
Sally Carson, a midwife, told the news outlet that midwives’ jobs are to protect babies and provide special care when they are born prematurely.
“These babies are not tumors that they can just remove,” Carson said.
Andrew Percy, a Conservative member of the House of Commons Health Select Committee, told the Daily Mail: “It is clearly a conflict of interest if she is doing the two roles. It’s pretty disgusting. She represents midwives, many of whom will absolutely not agree with this campaign, and she should think very hard about whether or not her position is sustainable.”
Democratic Unionist MP Jim Shannon also was surprised. He told the news outlet: “I would have thought the RCM should be protecting unborn life. Its chief executive has this dual position and many people would say you can’t have that.”
Paul Tully, General Secretary of the British group Society for Protection of the Unborn Child, also called out Warwick’s hypocrisy in a statement. He said the midwives group already is pro-abortion, and the latest news marks a radical shift that aligns with the pro-abortion lobby.
“Midwifery is a caring profession, and most women training to be midwives do so because they care about babies and want to serve mothers and babies,” Tully said. “Abortion is a total contradiction of that. Abortion kills babies and harms women, sometimes fatally.”
A spokesperson for the midwives group did not condemn Warwick’s abortion advocacy in a statement to the Metro. The spokesperson said: “The RCM is not for or against abortion. It is for women, and respecting their choices about their bodies. [British National Health Service] policy is explicit that high-quality maternity services include respecting women’s right to make reproductive choices. The RCM’s stance on decriminalisation of abortion is compatible with this.”
Tully continued in a statement to LifeNews:
“Currently, most abortions performed in labour wards are on babies with disabilities like Downs Syndrome or spina bifida. This has a damaging effect on the doctors, midwives and nurses involved, causing many of them long-term regret, but in a few cases making them radical advocates for killing. In future, the pro-abortion RCM wants to make it legal to kill any baby at any stage without any reason.
“Expectant mothers have a right to express a preference for how they are treated, and one thing they can do is ask to be treated by a midwife who does not subscribe to the pro-abortion RCM. They can make this request early in their pregnancy. They don’t have to wait till they are in labour. RCM has politicised the role of midwives by supporting change in the law to allow the killing of more babies, but mothers have a right to object. Just as women would be entitled to ask not to be treated by members of a group that supported the killing of black people or disabled people, so they have all the more right to ask to be treated by someone who does not kill unborn children.”
Most people strongly oppose mid- and late-term abortions. A 2016 Marist poll found 61 percent of Americans, including those who identify as “pro-choice,” support laws banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. An unofficial reader poll on the Metro had 79 percent saying England should keep its current abortion limits and 21 percent saying the abortion time limit should be scrapped.
